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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 6 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 6 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 8 |
| 1893 | 12 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1910 | 2 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
67 stories matching obsess
- The City’s Strawberry Obsession
A local glut of strawberries has upended the market, left bakers with half-empty pie tins, and frustrated fruit merchants.
- The Perpetual Motion Inventor's Wild Night
Dr. Hannibal Mills, a local crank obsessed with his 'perpetual motion' machine, shoots a saloon keeper after a drunken argument.
- Beauty Trends and Economic Betrayal
A critique of how the public's obsession with celebrity fashion distracts from the economic harm of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff.
- The Unsolicited Burden of the 'Young Man's' Future
An 1875 newspaper advertisement in Snohomish promised a cure for the 'uncertainties' of life, reflecting a 19th-century obsession with self-improvement and the fear of personal stagnation.
- The Artist and the Terrier: A Seattle Romance
A down-and-out clerk uses his only asset—a well-trained terrier—to win the favor of a grumpy painter and the hand of his beloved in 1870s Seattle.
- The Celebrity Cult of the Gilded Age
A writer in 1888 questions the bizarre, sycophantic public obsession with the ultra-wealthy, who are 'petted in Belgravia' simply for their riches.
- The Tragic End of Etta Harris
A daughter is murdered by her own father in Tacoma, exposing a twisted history of obsession, jealousy, and fatal control.
- The Shadow on Lake Washington
A grizzly discovery on Mercer Island leads to a frantic, suspicion-filled murder investigation in 1886 Seattle.
- The Palouse Massacre: A Family Destroyed by Religious Mania
A farmer takes his own life after killing his wife and children in a brutal religious mania, leaving a chilling note behind.
- The Final Preparation at the Grand Pacific Hotel
A Kentucky native obsessed with order cleanses himself and meticulously arranges his affairs before ending his life.
- Bill Nye’s Advice: Dig In, Don’t Look for Rail Lines
Humorist Bill Nye weighs in on the local obsession with railroad speculation in Fairhaven and New Whatcom.
- The 1891 Land Rush in Brooklyn Addition
While developers promised a suburban utopia with low down payments, the aggressive marketing tactics of the era reveal a housing market obsessed with rapid expansion and installment-plan speculation.
- The Shadow of the Lake Union Tunnel
After years of obsession with a major public works project, a retired worker takes his own life during a period of deepening despondency.
- The Roller Rink Craze of 1872
Before the city's modern obsession with wellness, local promoters banked on a new indoor exercise to save Seattle’s youth from 'pernicious influences and vile haunts.'
- The Unrest of the American Dollar
A 1880 editorial from the Seattle Intelligencer examines the nation's obsession with wealth accumulation and its hidden costs to the soul of a young nation.
- The Shadow of the Giants: A Victorian Obsession with Stature
A century before global social media, Seattle newspaper readers were served serialized curiosities about the world's 'tallest men'—a blend of anthropological fact, tall tales, and traveling circus spectacle.
- The Ghost in the Photograph
A grieving man’s obsession with the afterlife leads him into the dark, hidden corners of 1876 Seattle—and to a tragic end.
- The Seal-Skin Obsession: Why Seattle Ladies Wear More Fur Than Any Other City
A local furrier reveals that the city's obsession with expensive sealskin sacks is driven by climate, fashion, and a secret supply chain from London.
- City Hall's Petty Wars and the Cost of Patronage
Seattle's water and fire departments are being crippled by the 'reform' administration's obsession with political spoils and patronage over efficiency.
- The Real Estate Boom of 1890
A booster’s pitch for West Seattle highlights the city's turn-of-the-century obsession with land development and panoramic vistas.
- Who Deserves the Title of 'Gentleman'?
An editorial from 1885 explores the tension between old-world aristocratic definitions of nobility and the emerging, character-based morality of a new society.
- The City Hall That Wasn't: Seattle's 1882 Fire Engine Obsession
When faced with a choice between a new municipal center and a state-of-the-art steam fire engine, Seattle citizens chose the engine—prioritizing immediate safety over civic expansion.
- The Seattle Boom in Black and White: 1889
A look at the sheer volume of commerce flowing through Seattle's docks and rails just weeks after the Great Seattle Fire, showcasing a city obsessed with growth, brick, and iron.
- The Legislative Hangover of the Anti-Saloon League
How the obsession with prohibition paralyzed the Tacoma legislature and derailed actual governance.
- The Deadly Prescription of Clifton House
A physician’s sinister plot to poison his young wife for her inheritance ends in a gruesome, ironic justice on the frontier.